from Your News:
A nationwide survey of more than 68,000 students reveals alarming support for using violence or obstruction to stop controversial speakers on campus.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A new survey has found that one in three college students believe some level of violence is acceptable to stop campus speech they oppose. The large-scale study, conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), polled more than 68,000 students at 257 colleges and universities across the country on free speech attitudes and tolerance of controversial speakers.
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According to The College Fix, students were asked how acceptable it would be for peers to “use violence to stop a campus speech.” Two percent responded “always acceptable,” 13 percent said “sometimes acceptable,” and 19 percent said “rarely acceptable,” totaling about 34 percent.
Breaking down responses by political affiliation, 7 percent of liberal-identifying students and 8 percent of conservative-identifying students said it is “always acceptable” to use violence to shut down speech. “More students than ever think violence and chaos are acceptable alternatives to peaceful protest,” FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said in a news release. “This finding cuts across partisan lines. It is not a liberal or conservative problem — it’s an American problem.”
A majority of students also supported restricting access to controversial speakers without violence. Fifty-four percent said it was acceptable to block other students from attending a speech, with 3 percent calling it “always acceptable,” 19 percent “sometimes acceptable,” and 32 percent “rarely acceptable.” Slightly more conservative than liberal students said blocking was “always acceptable” (11 percent versus 9 percent). Still, according to Inside Higher Ed, Republican students overall were less likely to endorse disruptive tactics than Democratic students, though the gap is narrowing.
Another striking finding, according to FIRE, is that for the first time, a majority of students opposed their schools hosting any of six controversial speakers presented in the survey — three conservative and three liberal. FIRE reported that 166 of the 257 schools received an “F” grade for their free speech climate, while only 11 earned a grade of C or higher.
